Essex County herald. [volume] (Guildhall, Vt.) 1873-1964, 1887-06-17

couragel You are in glorious companionship.
God will see you through all these trials, and
He will deliver you.
Ny ject also impresses me with the fact
that good people sometimes g.t very much
frightened.
In the tone Of the voice of these disciples as
they rushed into the back part OF the boat,
find they are frightened almost to death.
They say: master, careSt thou not that we
perishr They had no reason TO he frightened,
for Christ was in the boat l suppose if we
had been there We would have been just rs
atfrightened. Perhaps more.
In all ages very good people get very much
affrightened. 1t Is often so in our day, and
men say: Why, look at the bad lectures;
look at the Spiritualistic societies: look at the
various errors going over the Church of God;
we are going to founder; the Church is going
to perish; she is going down." Oh, how many
good people are affrightaned by the iniquity
in our day, and think tine Church of Jesus
Christ is going to be overthrow, and just as
much affrightened as were the disciples of my
text Don't worry, don't fret, as though III
EQUITY were going to triumph over righteous
ness
A lion goes into cavern to sleep He lies
down, with his shaggy name covering the
paws. Meanwhile the spiders spin web
across the mouth of the cavern and say
1--WE have captured him." Gossamer thread
after gossamer thread is spun until the whole
front of the cavern is covered with the spi-
n g web. and the sri1eI'" v: "rhe lion s
aono; the lion IS fast" After awhile the lion
has got through sleeping; he rouses himself,
he shakes his name, he walks out into thesu
light: he does not even know the spiders web
is spun, and with his voice he shakes the
mountain.
So men come spinning their sophistries and
sllepticism about Jesus Christ; He seems to
be sleeping. They say: 1--WE have captured
| tha Lord He will forth aorairN
upon the nation; Christ is captured forever.
His religion will never make any conquest
among men," But after while the Lion or
the Tribe of Judah will rouse Himself and
come forth to shake nightly the nations.
What is the spiders web to the aroused lions
Give truth and error u fair grapple, and truth
will come Off victor.
But there are great many good people
who get atfrightened in other respects; they
are atfrightened in our day about revivaIs.
They say: "Oh this is strong religious gale
we are afraid the Church of God is going To
be upset, and there are going to be great
many people brought into the church that
are going to be of no use to it, and they are
atfrghtened whenever they see q revival
taking hold of the churches
AS though a ship captain with five thou
sand bushels of whsat for cargo should say,
some day, coming upon deck: Throw over
| board al cargo" and the sailors should say:
"Why, captain, what do you meant Throw
! over all the cargoi ''Ob,h says the captain,
I'VE have a peck Of chaff that has got into
this five thousand bushels of wheat, and the
only way to get rid of the chaR is to throw
all the wheat overheard Now, that is a
great deal wiser than the talk of a great
many Christians who want to throw over
board all the thousands and tens of thousands
OF souls who are the subjects OF revivals
| Throw all overheard because they are brought
| into the kingdom of God through great re-
vivals, because there is peck of chalf, pint
of chaffl Say. let them stay until the Last
Day; tho Lord will divide the chaif from the
wheat.
Do not DO afrail of great revival.
Oh, that these gales from heaven might
sweep through all our churches. Oh, for
such days as Richard Baxter saw in Kiddcr-
minister and Robert McChevne saw in Dundee!
oh, for such days as Jonathan Edwards saw
! in Northampton ] have often heard my
father tell Of the fact that in the early part
Of this century revival broke out at Somer-
S1llc, n. j., and some people were very much
gitated about it. They said: ooh, you are
gong to bring too many people into the
church at once;' and they sent down to New
Brunswick to get John Livingston to stop the
revival.
We'll, there was no better soul In all the
world than John Livingston. He went and
looked at the revival: they wanted him to
stop 1T. He stood ill the pulpit on the Sab
bath, AMI looked over the solemn auditory,
and he said: This, brethren. is in reality the
work Of God; beware how you try to stop it. "
And he was an old man, leaning heavily on
his staH--a very old man. And he lifted that
stall, and took hold of the end of that staff,
and began to let it fall very slowly through,
between the finger and the thumb, and he
said: "Oh, thou impenitent, thou art falling
now--faling away from life, falling away
from peace and heaven, falling as certainly
us that cane is falling through my hand-fall-
ing certainly, though perhaps falling slow.
lv' And the cane kept on falling through
John Livingstons hand. The religious emo
i'll the audience was overpowering, and men
saw type of their doom, as the cane kept
falling and falling, until the knob Of
the cane struck Mr. Livingston's hand, and he
clasped it Stoutly and said "But the grace OF
God can stop you, as l stopped that cane; ,
and then there was gladness all through the
house at the fact of pardon and peace anC
salvation. "Well, said the people after the
service, II guess you had better send Livings
ton home; he is making the revival worse.
Oh, for the gales from heaven and Christ on
board the ship! The danger of the Church o
God is not in reVivals.
Again my subject impresses me with tn
fact that Jesus was God and man in the sam
being. Here He is in the back part OF tn
boat Oh, how tired He looks; what sa,
dreams he must have! Look at his counte
, nance; He must be thinking of the cross t.
, come. Look at Him, He is man-bone o
our bone, flesh of our flesh. Tired, He falls
asleep; He is man. But then find Chris
at the prov Of the boat; l hear him say
Peace, be STILL" and see the storm kneel
ing at His feet, and the tempests folding thei
wings in His presence; He is God.
If l have sorrow and trouble, and wan
sympathy, go and kneel down at the bac
part of the boat, and say; 80, Christ! wear
one of Gennesaret, sympathize with all m
sorrows, man of Nazareth, man of the cross.
A man, a man. But if l want to conquer m
spiritual foes if | want to get the victor,
over sin, death and hell, come to the from
of the boat and | kneel down, and l say
30, Lord Jesus Christ, Thou who dost hus
the tempest, hush all my grief, hus
all my temptation, hush all my SIM" Aman
q man; a Cod God
learn once M ore from this subject this
Christ can hush a tempest
JU dId seem as II everything must go Il
ruin. The disciples had given up the idea o
managing the ship; the crew were entirely
demolalized; yet Christ rises, and He put
His foot on the storm, and it crouches at Hi
feet. Oh, yes! Christ can hush the tempest.
You have had tronble. Perhaps it was tn,
little child taken away from you-the sweet
est child of the household, the one who aske,
the most curious questions, and stood arount
, you with the greatest fondness, and the spad
cub down Vhrough your pleedlnS heart Fer
haps it was all only son, and your heart ha
] ever since boon like the desolatcd castle, tn
} owls of the night hooting among the fallin
I arches and the crumbliug stairwlys.
Perhaps it was IN aged mother. Yo
Q always went to her with your troubles Sh
8 was III your homo to welcome your childre
t into life, and when they died she was there t
pity you; that old hand will do you no NOR
9 kindness: that white lock of lair you pu
: away in tho lOcket didn't loOi- aS it usuall
did when sho brushed it away from he